Barely Winging It (6 page)

“Yes sir, boss,” was his chipper reply.

Alphy
took a seat at the desk, while everyone else situated themselves around the
room. Some stood, while others sat.
Alphy
made sure
Gale occupied his lap, and Slate stood next to his mate, whom he insisted
should sit.

As
Alphy
took a seat
at the desk, and everyone else situated themselves around the room.
Havana tried to get her thoughts and emotions back
under control.
Crap,
I’m going to die a slow pining death. This
is the worst way to die
. Thoughts of her parents filtered through her mind.
They had been happy together, and they’d died together. She had been angered at
the friends of her parents who said it was a blessing they had died together,
but it made sense to her now. It wasn’t that she was alone. It was because the
other half of her soul, the one person fate deemed perfect for her, kept
rejecting her.
But why?

Havana’s stomach rolled, and she dove for a
wastebasket that was fortunately close by. The next couple of minutes were a
blur as she emptied her stomach and struggled to recover from it. After she
finished, someone took the trash can out, and someone else handed her a glass
of water.

“Easy, sis.
I
truly believe this can be worked out. We need a strategy. To get that, we need
information. Stelios was telling me something I think is very important. Why
don’t you repeat what you told me, Stelios?”

“Actually, Bogdan could tell it better. He was raised
with
Dultyn
.” Stelios nodded toward the gargoyle.

Bogdan gave a heavy sigh as all eyes turned to him.
“We were part of a clutch in Germany. Though we had different parents, we both
hatched at nearly the same time in the early eighteen hundreds.” Havana sat
quiet and completely focused on what she was learning about her mate. Even
though she wanted to know everything about him, it wasn’t ideal to learn these
personal things from others. But that was in larger part because of her, so she
completely appreciated everyone’s support. Bogdan went on. “Things started getting
tense for a while, trying to keep from being discovered. Then World War One
started, and that’s when things started going really bad. Our clutch, to be
aware of the things around them, watched and learned everything they could
about the events.
Dultyn
and I were always close as
brothers, so he and I worked together on many cases, to bring information back
to the clutch. But then we started to notice concerning things with our clutch.
Several members disagreed with other members; they started taking sides. Once
World War Two was in full swing, the tension in the clutch was at its most
intense.

“We learned that a group of German soldiers were
investigating myths in our area. We warned the clutch to find other places to
roost and to take precautions. Several took our advice, and hid away in secret
spots with plans to meet up after roost the next night. There were only a few
who didn’t go. One of them was a mated couple who promised to guard over the
unmated during the day. But when we arrived after sunset that night, we found
the bodies of the mated pair and the debris of one of the gargoyles. The others
were missing.

“Over the course of a year, we kept on the move,
hiding where we could. We soon lost all of our mated pairs, leaving us
vulnerable to the threat of day. Our leaders were dead, so the rest of us had
put
Dultyn
in charge. He kept us safe for a while. We
had been looking for a place where the war wouldn’t reach
us,
and it led us to a church in a town that we hoped we would be safe for a few
days. Instead, when we woke,
Dultyn
and I were the
last ones left amongst a smoldering heap of broken rubble.” Bogdan’s eyes were
empty. Everyone could tell he was seeing in his eyes, his memory. It was a
horrid memory to have to relive, but Havana started to get an understanding of
the weight her mate felt he had to carry alone. She also felt more guilt elbow
its way into her gut for the pain she tried to inflict on
Dultyn
.

Stelios took up the rest of the story. “My clutch
wasn’t in Germany, but it was a world war. My clutch got wiped out in a single
bombing as well, and I was the only survivor. I was so frightened until I found
Dultyn
and Bogdan. They didn’t turn me away when I
asked to join them. I learned later what happened.”

“He blames himself for their deaths, doesn’t he?”
Katie asked.

Bogdan and Stelios both nodded before Stelios
continued. “For another year, we traveled and tried to stay safe. There were
several close calls. There were other times we found what appeared to be whole
clutches wiped out. We ran into Raymond and Fabian in France. They offered to
smuggle us to Canada to his coven, which he had just taken over a month
previous. We accepted and had stayed up until now.”

Havana was puzzled. Her voice was slightly raw as she
spoke. “Ok, I’m sorry, I get why he thinks he should blame himself, unjustly in
my opinion, but I get it. What I don’t get, still, is why he didn’t want to
mate with me?”

Alphy
answered her. “There are a couple things to it. First, he thinks he failed the
others so he probably fears failing you. Second, he thinks you are too young to
have to bear his burden with him, because whatever affects one mate, will
affect the other. He wants you happy, not sad.” He raised his hand to silence
her, clearly knowing her argument, so Havana closed her mouth and frowned. “I
didn’t say it was rational. Keep in mind how long he’s been alive, what he’s
seen and had to live through. He doesn’t want to drag you down into that. You
are carefree and full of life. My guess is that he doesn’t want to hold you
back from living whatever life you planned to live. You have such a long life
ahead of you that you are just starting. What do you two think? Am I close?”

Both gargoyles nodded, and Bogdan added, “He has had
to bury his emotions and not face them. Perhaps this is fate’s way of helping
him through this, by giving him a mate who could teach him to love life again.
He used to be so happy, you couldn’t help but smile and be happy,
too
, when you were around him.”

Havana mulled over what they had said. She started to
feel the tendrils of hope. Could she allow herself to hope?
Yes, damn it! I am not a shrinking violet. I
will fight for him until my dying breath, as true mates should.
Havana
didn’t know how exactly to do that, but she figured it would start with an
apology on her part. He may have been mistaken, but so had she. It was time she
grew up. “Ok, so what’s the plan?”

Chapter Seven

Friday after sundown

Nix paced silently in the small hotel room they had
rented in Bancroft, while waiting for Enzo to return. He learned it was the
same hotel Gale and her family had been in when
Alphy
met them. They had kept their alpha
apprised
of events,
but they both needed clothes so after seeing them safe in the room, Enzo headed
to the pack house.

Nix would have been happier if
Bronya
was safe in his bed surrounded by the pack, but she had yet to learn about
shifters, and mates, and he just knew if he made love to her—and the need was
riding him hard—he wouldn’t be able to stop his falcon from claiming her. Of course
he wanted her claimed, too, which didn’t help his resolve, but he had to make
sure this was done right. Telling humans about the paranormal world was a
tricky thing.

She, however, didn’t seem at all bothered by anything
at the moment. She slept on the ride up here, and easily fell back to sleep
once they arrived. At least she trusted him enough to sleep alone in a room
with him.

Reaching the window, he peered outside again before
turning to pace the other direction. Normally, being surrounded by walls made
his falcon claustrophobic and he would long to be in the air, but right now his
falcon was too busy urging him to claim their mate. He tried to keep his
concentration, but he didn’t have information on the suspect, or the fire, or
even the background of his mate and her family. With so many unknown variables,
he had nothing to set his focus on other than his mate.

Enzo had promised to bring everything he could get
Ryker to dredge up in the time he was there at the house, which knowing Ryker,
would be plenty to keep them reading for a few days before he could conjure up
more. He grunted in amusement as he wondered how the little vamp could manage
it.
The little red-headed
twink
is quite the wiz.

“What’s so funny?” His mate’s
groggy
voice brought him out of his musing. His eyes darted to her and roved over her
still relaxed form, examining her to make sure she was ok.
Damn, I have it bad.
“Just thinking of a buddy of
mine.
You ok? You’ve been sleeping a lot.”

Bronya
rubbed her eyes and stretched. Nix had to look away and hold his breath to keep
from moaning out at the pleasure and pain the sight caused him. Even her name
caused his heart to flutter. He had tried, during the ride to Bancroft, while
she slept, to say her name enough to get used to it, but it didn’t work. He
still felt tickles of pleasure spread through his torso at the sound of it.

“Yeah, I’m all right. Just didn’t have a lot of sleep
the last couple days.” She dropped her head back against the pillow and looked
up at the ceiling. “The night of the fire, I kept thinking about this falcon I
saw that day on a repo. Ridiculous, I know, but I just couldn’t get him out of
my head for some reason.”

Nix stopped and stared at her in shock.
She was influenced by the mating pull that
much while I was in my falcon form?
Mentally fisting the air in ridiculous
elation, he listened as she continued.

“I was still awake when the cops showed up and told us
about the fire. I went to work like normal, but couldn’t sleep much last night
either. Dad didn’t want to let me do this one job today, but I felt it was the
last one for a while and we really needed the money.”

Nix scrunched up his face in confusion. “Is your
father’s business in trouble? We didn’t get that impression. Do you need any
help?” He said the words before he thought about them, which was totally not
like him at all. It was a good thing you only get one mate, because it was
dangerous having this little self-control.

Bronya
rolled over and gave him a grateful smile, which nearly wiped all the blood
from his head and blasted it into his groin. He was sure he felt his balls
bounce in their sacks from the force. His dick strained the front of his jeans,
turning them into an instrument of torture. He fought hard to hear what his
mate was saying over the roar in his ears.

“My dad’s business is fine. We had several financial
setbacks the last several years, and we’ve been giving every last bit we earn,
that we don’t need for food and bills, to paying those debts off.”

Nix did some subtle breathing and got his blood
flowing enough to think about what she said. “If you don’t mind me asking, what
are the debts from?”

Bending her arm, she rested her head on her elevated
hand and shrugged.
“College and some hospital bills.
My grandmother had a lot of problems before she died, and right after that, Mom
had an accident that was pretty bad, and then Dad had to have emergency surgery
for a ruptured appendix. The company suffered when my dad was so preoccupied
with my mom when she was hurt, and then with his own health emergency, so not
only did we add debt, we lost income on top of it. He hasn’t had the business
for long. He created it just about a year before my grandmother died.”

Nix was stunned for a moment as he processed what she
said. His mate had been through a lot lately. “I’m very sorry to hear about
your grandmother. And I’m grateful both your parents came out all right. They
make a good team, I could tell that.”

Bronya
gave him an appreciative smile. “Yeah, they are. I want the same kind of
relationship as they have. I guess that’s why I haven’t really been in any
relationship that lasted more than a couple of dates. None of them fit the
bill.” Her eyes darted to his and back down at her hands.

Nix’s stomach bounced around as if it had its own pair
of wings. If she was feeling the mating pull, then she knew he was the one to
give her the kind of relationship she wanted. Still, he wanted to know exactly
what she thought it was. Perhaps letting her know what he wanted would help a
little … or bite him in the ass.
But you
don’t win races by sitting on the sidelines.
“My parents were true
soul-mates. They never stayed angry at each other for more than a few minutes.
My father always took my mother out, and he always found reasons to compliment
her. He always thought of her before himself and constantly sought out her
advice so they could make decisions together. That’s the kind of man I want to
be for the woman I choose to share my life with.”

Nix didn’t mistake the look of longing that flickered
through her eyes.
Bronya
sat up and leaned back on
her hand. “That’s exactly what I want. All the guys I run into seem to think
that to be the head of the
house,
they don’t need to
involve the woman in the decisions. I want a man who can make the hard choices
for the family and
be
confident about it because he
already knows what it is that I want because he talks to me and listens to me
that much. Does that make sense?”

“Perfect sense.”
Nix smiled warmly at her to ensure she knew he was
being honest.

“So where are your parents now?” She asked.

Nix’s smile faded, and he turned to look out the
window. He didn’t want her to see how sad the memory was to him. But he did
want to tell her since, being his mate, she would need to know. “My parents and
younger sister were killed when I was young.” Nix couldn’t tell her all the
details.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

The sound of a car door shutting caught his attention.
Nix peeked out window. Through the dark, with his enhanced sight, he could make
out Enzo trying to load up his arms with bags, two of which looked to be like
casserole dish holders. He opened the door for the shifter as soon as he was
near the door.

“Thank you,” Enzo grunted.

Bronya
had gotten off the bed and was now helping to relieve some of the burden. She
placed the food holders on the table while Enzo dropped the bags on the second
bed. “Sorry I’m so late. There were some problems at home.”

Nix’s brows shot up. “Anything you can tell me about?”

Enzo seemed to be thinking over the words before he
answered. “It’s about
Dultyn
and Havana.”

“Bad news?”
Nix hated that the two were having problems. He liked the gargoyles and had
formed a sort of bond with them. And Havana was a bright spirited woman who
usually made you laugh whether you wanted to or not. Her banter between her and
her brother always brought laughter.

Enzo nodded his head. “It has to do with his past.”
Enzo sat hard on the bed, and resting his elbows on his knees, he rubbed his
face in his hands before leaning back and rubbing his neck. “That’s the first
time I’ve ever seen her cry, I mean full on ‘on the floor sobbing’. She
actually hazed out for a bit in grief.”

Nix dropped his mouth open in shock. His stomach
slightly turned in concern for his friends. Enzo looked up at him, “
Alphy
and several others are working
together to help them. I don’t think there is anyone that isn’t willing to
help. Stelios and
Bogdan included.”

Bronya’s
melodious voice interrupted. “Uh, guys, I really hate to intrude, but if you
don’t object, can I dig in to this amazing smelling food? I haven’t eaten since
I had a breakfast bar at breakfast.”

Looking back at her, Nix was horrified that she had
gone so long without food. Enzo answered, “Oh! Yeah, Connie prepared that for
us. The first bag is lasagna and fresh made garlic bread, and the second bag
has a salad and a little something for dessert. There’s another bag with plates
and silverware.”

“How about you two go wash up and I’ll set the table.”
Bronya
opened one bag and started emptying it out and
setting the small table the room offered.

A little while later, as they were eating, Enzo
started to question her. “So what can you tell me about this idiot who is
putting your life in danger?”

Nix interrupted, “Didn’t you get Ryker to look into
him?”

“Yeah, I got some papers he had printed up, but I
haven’t read over them yet. Still would be good to get her side of things.”
Enzo placed a fork full of lasagna in his mouth and looked expectantly back at
Bronya
.

Nix understood and agreed with Enzo, really he did,
but he was constantly fighting the need to grind his teeth, and the guy’s
bones, whenever he heard about the guy who wanted his mate.

“There really isn’t much to tell. We were set up on a
blind date by a co-worker of his who had recently used our services. It was
apparent right away that he and I weren’t compatible. My parents always get gut
feelings about things, but this time even I felt something was off, so I told
him up front I didn’t believe we were compatible. He got upset that I didn’t
give us a real try, and he has been unrelenting since. He’s calls me at home
and has dropped by without invitation on several occasions. Each time I would
tell him to stop calling and coming around. Then it escalated to him calling me
at my work and stopping by there. Poor Zeke has been bearing the brunt of Gates’s
aggression when he was refused to be let in to see me. Just before the fire, we
started getting neighbors claiming they saw someone in the shadows outside the
apartments.”

“How often did you sleep at your parents’ house?” Enzo
asked right before he put a large forkful of cheesy food in his mouth.
 

Bronya
shrugged as she chewed the bite she took. After she swallowed, she answered,
“Actually that was the first night in a long while. Like I said, my parents get
gut instincts about something or other, and they are usually right. They are
pretty superstitious. After receiving another call, and when he heard about an
incident I just had on a job, Dad insisted I stay over.”

“What was the incident?” Enzo took a swallow of his
drink.

Her lips pulled up into a smile, and Nix felt warmth
flow through his chest as he saw a wistful look play across her face. He was
sure she was remembering him in his falcon form. He was guessing that was the
sign she was talking about that her dad had read. He was used to hearing about
superstitions about his animal. “I saw a falcon land on my plane when I had to
do an emergency landing. He just sat there watching me the whole time I was
trying to fix the problem. He was the most beautiful falcon I have ever seen,
and the largest.” Shaking her head a little, her eyes refocused, and she took
another bite of her food.

Nix took a bite as well and looked over at Enzo. Enzo
raised a brow and smirked.
Yup,
Enzo knows who it was, too
. Shifters in
their animal forms were always larger than normal.

Enzo narrowed his eyes just a little at Nix.
Fuck, what’s he up to?

“Was this up near here, in Bancroft?” Enzo asked
curiously.

Fuck, Enzo, what are you
doing?
Nix tried giving him a
subtle look of warning.
Enzo is up to
something, and his somethings are always trouble.